MBA Morning 2009

Session 2009-11
Submission Date: Tuesday, December 07, 2021

Submitted to:
Prof. Zeeshan Ahmer

Submitted By:
Group Members Roll Numbers
M.Zahid Sadiq 016
Umar hAfeez 034
Faiza 010
Sanan Hayat 071

Institute Of Business Administration

University of the Punjab
IT as Competitive Advantage

Acknowledgement
“Jubilant am I on this isthmus,

A little with my inner vitality

More with your inspiration

And the endless passion of sympathy”

We owe our gratitude to Allah Almighty whose shower of blessings and

kindness has been on us throughout the working on these pages. It is his hidden
help that we finally able to compile this document.

We acknowledge with deep gratitude the invaluable help extended to us

by our respected teachers especially by the shining star of IBA: Prof. Zeeshan
Ahmer whose indispensable and detailed comments on various aspects, prompt
suggestion and recommendations for our problems coupled with encouragement
made us to come forth holding such article.

At last but not least, we would like to thank all our group members
(Zahid, Umar, Faiza, Sanan) for bearing the strain of composition and for
offering immediate critical comments on pages thrust in front of them.

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IT as Competitive Advantage

ABSTRACT

F
rom the very beginning the concept of IT, as a powerful competitive weapon has
been strongly emphasized in the literature, yet the sustain ability of the competitive
advantage provided by IT applications is not well-explained. The importance of IT in
various business sections is very much pronounced.

This work discusses the resource-based theory as a means of analyzing sustainability

and develops a model founded on this resource-based view of the firm. This model
is then applied to four attributes of IT capital requirements, proprietary technology,
technical IT skills, and managerial IT skills which might be sources of sustained
competitive advantage.

Information systems are strategic business tools, frequently essential to a firm and
central to its competitive strategy. IT equipment and services are available to all
firms, and most applications can be duplicated. The copying firm often enjoys the
advantages of newer and better technology, learns from the experience of the
innovator, and thus can offer comparable services at lower costs.

Few studies have attempted to empirically examine these relationships. Investments

in IT are at least partially responsible for one important organizational change, the
shift of economic activity to smaller firms. We examine this hypothesis using
industry-level data on IT capital and measures of firm size, including employees and
sales per firm.

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Executive Summary

S
ince the invention of first computing device, there came a race in competition in
business world. From history to present there came revolutionary changes in the
Information technology field and its impacts on the different business sections.
Now IT is recognized as a major source of competitive advantage.

The field of strategic management focuses on understanding sources of

sustained competitive advantages for firms. A variety of factors have been
discussed in this paper have an important impact on the ability of firms to obtain
sustained competitive advantage, including the relative cost position of a firm, a
firm's ability to differentiate its products and the ability of firms to cooperate in
strategic alliances.

Information technology (IT) has also been mentioned for its possible role
in creating sustained competitive advantages for firms While the assertion that
IT might be able to create sustained competitive advantage for firms is
provocative, work in this area is relatively underdeveloped, both empirically
and theoretically. Research on IT and competitive advantage has emphasized
describing “how, rather than systematically why” IT can lead to such an
advantage. It is possible to anticipate the conditions under which aspects of a
firm's IT will be sources of competitive disadvantage, when they will be sources
of competitive parity, and when they will be sources of either temporary or
sustained competitive advantage.

We have also discussed how IT has reduced the costs of coordination

both within firms and between firms. The question of how IT affects firm size is
subject to empirical investigation, the different theories make different
predictions about what changes we should see.

At last we have discussed the companies which took the initiative of IT

systems strategically to reap significant competitive advantage. American
Hospital Supply, being the first to install online order entry terminals in
hospitals, now dominates the medical supply business. Merrill Lynch, with its
Cash Management Account, dependent on database and laser printing
technology, preempted the market with its innovative product. American and
United Airlines, through their computerized reservation systems, Sabre and

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IT as Competitive Advantage

Apollo established an edge that other air carriers have found impossible to
overcome.

The significance of these computer-based products and services lies neither in

their technological sophistication nor in the format of the reports they produce.
Rather, it is found by examining the role they play in their firm's quest for
competitive advantage.

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Content

s
1. Information Technology....................................................................................................................1
1.1 Historical Background:.................................................................................................................1
2. IT and Business World.....................................................................................................................2
2.1. Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
2.2. Using Information Technology: (As Competitive Advantage).....................................................2
2.2.1. Effects on Organization:.......................................................................................................3
2.2.2. Effect on Management:.......................................................................................................4
2.2.3. Effects on Business Strategy:...............................................................................................4
2.2.4. Effects on Accounting:.........................................................................................................5
2.2.5. Effects on International Business:........................................................................................6
2.2.6. Effects on Operation Management:.....................................................................................6
2.2.7. Other Impacts on business:.................................................................................................6
3. An Example........................................................................................................................................8
4. IT as source of sustained competitive advantage..............................................................................9
4.1 Previous Literature The value of IT (and example)......................................................................9
4.2 The create-capture-keep paradigm...........................................................................................10
4.3 The resource-based perspective................................................................................................10
5. The Resource-Based View of the Firm............................................................................................10
5.1 Resource heterogeneity.............................................................................................................11
5.2 Resource Immobility..................................................................................................................11
5.3 Application of Resource based Assertions.................................................................................11
5.4 Competitive Advantage as a result of Resource based assertions.............................................11
5.5 Causal ambiguity........................................................................................................................12
5.6 Social complexity.......................................................................................................................12
5.7 A resource-based model of competitive advantage..................................................................12
5.8 Applying the Resource- Based View to Attributes of IT.............................................................13
5.8.1 Access to capital.................................................................................................................13
5.8.2 Proprietary technology.......................................................................................................15
5.8.3 Technical IT skills.................................................................................................................15

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5.8.4 Managerial IT skills..............................................................................................................16

6. Conclusions and Implications...........................................................................................................18
7. IT and Firm Size................................................................................................................................19
8. Relationship between IT and Firm Size............................................................................................19
8.1 Firm Size:...................................................................................................................................19
8.2 Information Technology:...........................................................................................................19
9. IT and Viability of Firms...................................................................................................................20
9.1 Labor Substitution.....................................................................................................................20
9.2 Make versus Buy........................................................................................................................20
9.2.1 Reducing Internal Coordination Costs More than External.................................................21
9.2.2 Reducing External Coordination Costs More than Internal.................................................21
9.2.3 Reducing Coordination Costs More than Production Costs................................................22
10. Summary........................................................................................................................................22
11. Gaining Competitive Advantage....................................................................................................23
11.1 A few examples........................................................................................................................23
11.2 Using the Information technology:..........................................................................................23
11.3 Strategic Information System as Competitive Advantage........................................................24
11.4 Strategic thrusts as major competitive moves.........................................................................25
11.4.1 Differentiation...................................................................................................................25
11.4.2 Cost...................................................................................................................................25
11.4.3 Innovation.........................................................................................................................25
11.4.4 Growth..............................................................................................................................25
11.4.5 Alliance.............................................................................................................................25
12. References....................................................................................................................................26

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1. Information Technology

I nformation technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology

Association of America (ITAA), is “the study, design, development,
implementation, support or management of computer-based
information systems, particularly software applications and computer
hardware.” IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer
software to convert, store, protect process, transmit, and securely
retrieve information.

We use the term information technology or IT to refer to an entire industry. In

actuality, information technology is the use of computers and software to manage
information. In some companies, this is referred to as Management Information Services (or
MIS) or simply as Information Services (or IS). The information technology department of a
large company would be responsible for storing information, protecting information,
processing the information, transmitting the information as necessary, and later retrieving
information as necessary.

1.1 Historical Background:

In relative terms, it wasn't long ago that the Information Technology department
might have consisted of a single Computer Operator, who might be storing data on magnetic
tape, and then putting it in a box down in the basement somewhere. The history of
information technology is fascinating.

 Four basic periods

Characterized by a principal technology used to solve the input, processing, output
and communication problems of the time:

1. Pre-mechanical (3000 B.C - 14000 A.D)

2. Mechanical (1450 A.D - 1840 A.D)
3. Electromechanical (1840 A.D – 1940 A.D)
4. Electronic (1940 – Present)

The developments made in these eras brought about many significant improvements
in to the world globally. These improvements were very much pronounced in the business
world and proved as a source of competitive advantage to firms.

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2. IT and Business World

2.1. Introduction:
The technological advances achieved in the past few decades have brought about a
revolution in the business world, affecting nearly all aspects of working life. People can reach
others throughout the world in a matter of seconds, with cost being increasingly irrelevant.

Employees no longer need to be physically with their clients and co-workers; instead
they can communicate effectively at home, at a distant office, across the world, and even in
their car or on an airplane. With technology's penetration into every business function
executives have seen first-hand how it gives them access to well-organized, quality
information they can use to make better decisions, and how it fundamentally supports the
day-to-day running of their business.

Getting a firm to accept the new world of information technology is only part of the
equation. The invention of the telephone, fax machine, and more recent developments in
wireless communications and video-conferencing have offered businesses more flexibility
and efficiency and competitive advantage over others, and those willing to embrace these
new technologies found they were more likely to survive and prosper. The advent of the
Information age has spawned new technologies capable of improving nearly every aspect of
business.

2.2. Using Information Technology: (As Competitive Advantage)

The advent of the Information age has spawned new technologies capable of
improving nearly every aspect of business. It is important for every business owner to
understand that technology is not an obstacle, but a path to higher productivity, lower labor
costs and eventually more profits. The productivity that each employee enjoys by utilizing
computers on their job should make their hours more productive and more profitable for the
employer.

Every business owner has a different opinion on how much new technology their
company needs. Technology has different effects on the business world, as described
following:

 Effect on Organization
 Effect on Management
 Effects on Business strategy
 Effects on Accounting
 Effects on International Business
 Effects on Operation Management
 Other Impacts

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2.2.1. Effects on Organization:

Organizations of the twenty first century are proving that in order to stay competitive
they must reorganize the old hierarchical structure and transform into separate company
hybrids. The old hierarchical control is somewhat still in tact but decision making and
technology now influence the ways organizations are headed.

The impact of information technology has significant effects on the structure,

management and functioning of most organizations. It demands new patterns of work
organization and effects individual jobs, the formation and structure of groups, the nature of
supervision and managerial roles. In the case of new office technology it allows the potential
for staff at clerical/operator level to carry out a wider range of functions and to check their
own work. The result is a change in the traditional supervisory function and a demand for
fewer supervisors.

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IT has prompted a growing movement towards more automated procedures of work.

It is important that IT be aligned with business strategy. Therefore, firms could adopt
different types of technological deployment depending on their various business strategies.

The IT activities of organizations of the prospector type would be characterized by: a

more intensive use of IT, better management of IT, a more important role of the IS
department, more decentralized and flexible technological, organizational and administrative
infrastructures, and more intensive technological scanning than the ones associated with the
defender type. Research has been done supporting some of these perspectives.

2.2.2. Effect on Management:

Advances in technology made it possible to get to data faster and to access data in
different ways. Each of these developments and others contributed to the rise of so-called
management information system (MIS). Management information system became a serious
field of study largely because of the development of computers and computer-related
technologies. MIS, like many other computer terms, represents evolving concept.

Management Information System (MIS) is the system that provides people with either
data or information relating to an organization’s operations. Management Information
System(MIS) support the activities of employees, owners, customers and other key people
to an organization’s environment-either by efficiently processing data to assist with
transaction work load or by effectively supplying information to authorized people in a timely
manner

2.2.3. Effects on Business Strategy:

Firstly, let us see what is Business Strategy? Business strategy is the outcome of
decisions made to guide an organization with respect to the environment, structure and
processes that influence its organizational performance. Approaches to identifying business
strategies are textual, multivariate or typological.

Information technology plays a significant strategic role within organization. Strategic

information systems (SIS)
can support or even shape
business strategy.
Furthermore, some
conventional information
systems become strategic
when used in innovative
ways. Since the early 1990s,
improving the information
system planning process has
been one of the top 10
concerns of senior IS
executives. In order to carry

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out this planning process successfully, it is important to align the IS plan with the
organization's business.

Some studies have successfully observed the effect of the alignment of information
technology with organizational variables on organizational performance. The importance of
strategic alignment of information technology is being acknowledged; however, some issues
still need to be addressed.

Technological deployment corresponds to the way companies plan and manage

information technology to benefit from its potential and effectiveness. The concept of
technological deployment arises from five recognized conceptual frameworks addressing the
strategic aspect of IS.

 The first conceptual framework, proposed by Mc Farlan i, stresses the importance of

the strategic value of IS and the portfolio evaluation of current and future
applications.

 A second conceptual framework from Porter and Millerii highlights the contribution of
IT in enhancing the competitive position of an organization.

 A third conceptual framework suggested by Das et al iii proposes four principal

dimensions related to the deployment of information technology: distinct
competencies, the role of IT, design and development of IS, as well as technological,
organizational and administrative infrastructures.

 Henderson and Venkatramaniv indicated that to realize a successful strategic

alignment of IT with the business strategy, companies should address components
such as business strategy, IT strategy, organizational infrastructure and technological
infrastructure.

 Finally, the model of strategic management of IT related to the management of IS:

the positioning and role of IS, the strategic use of IS, new technological applications,
the planning of architecture, and the security.

2.2.4. Effects on Accounting:

As we know, Accounting is an art of recording, classifying, summarizing and
interpreting the financial statements.

Technology has greatly impacted the accounting profession in the sense that a task
that normally would take several entry level accounting clerks to perform can be
accomplished by one accountant. The current technology has literally changed the way an
accountant does their job. There is no longer a need for the old fashioned T accounts or
hand written journal entries or even hand written ledgers.

For example, in the past accountants used to do everything written, then if they had a
computer system the data was then entered into the system. The process was time
consuming and lengthy. In many organizations, the advancement of technology has helped

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in all aspects of accounting, from A/R, A/P to payroll the roles have changed due to
technology.

2.2.5. Effects on International Business:

Today's world of rapid increase in and expansion of technology is the reasons for
recent International Business growth. The rapid growth in international business makes an
understanding of organizational behavior all the more important for contemporary managers.
Businesses have expanded internationally to increase their market share, as the domestic
markets were too small to sustain growth. Business transactions are also becoming
increasing blurred across national boundaries.

The role of technology and its effects on international business management are
even more apparent with respect to advances in communications systems. The changing
technology environment (communication) is as important as transportation. The ability of a
firm to communicate with entities (outside and inside market) can be estimated by using
indicators of the communication infrastructure as telephones, computers, broadcast, and fax.

2.2.6. Effects on Operation Management:

Operation management focuses on carefully managing the processes to produce and
distribute products and services. Overall activities of operational management include
product creation, development, production and distribution. Related activities include
managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storage, logistics and evaluation.

Operational management often includes substantial measurement and analysis of

internal process. Ultimately, the nature of how operation management is carried out in an
organization depends very much on the nature of the products or services in the
organization. Technology impacts on it and now in this era, all activities of operation
management e.g.; production creation inventory control, quality control and evaluation all is
done through the computer systems and software.

2.2.7. Other Impacts on business:

Technological advancements over the past two decades have totally changed the
way in which offices across the globe work. The evolution of the personal computer (PC) has
provided the platform upon which major advances in word processing, filing, scheduling,
communication and access to information have become possible.

Advancement in technology also tends to improve Customer service. As market

grow tighter and more competitive and as product life cycles has shortened, an increasing
number of businesses are counting on superior customer service to help them compete. .
First of all let’s see what is customer service? Customer Service used to mean getting the
customer the right product at the right time and giving refunds with a smile to disgruntled
buyers. Now it means to pleasing buyers in many ways.

Technology has effected on cost access and quality. Before launching any product,
any organization can access its total cost quality within some minutes after calculation.

In society today, technology plays an important role in people's lives and in

businesses and organizations around the world. "Most technologies existing today were

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designed to expedite the way we manage, store, handle, analyze, and communicate
information."

Technology plays a significant role for enhancing internal and external

communication. An effective communication is a key to success for every organization. In
this day and age we as a global community are growing at a super fast rate. Communication
is a vital tool which aids us in breaking the distance barrier.

Similarly, it effects on inter-organizational network. Inter-organizational relations

have taken shape in different forms. Organizations, among themselves, have formed
contractual relationships or joint ventures or informal associations. Inter Organizational
Network as a successful measure of increasing competitiveness has been recognized in
various studies.

Technology also effects on logistical activities. Logistical activities defined as, the process
of strategically managing the procurement, movement and storage of materials, parts and
finished inventory (and related information flows) through the organization and its marketing
channels in such a way that current and future profitability are maximized through the cost
effectiveness of orders.

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3. An Example
Dell’s Approach to Selling PCs vs. Traditional Manufacturers

Traditional Manufacturer (like HP or IBM)

Forecasts Demand

Obtained Sub-Components from Suppliers

Makes Basic Components

Assembles Complete PC

Stores in Warehouse

Ships to Retailer

Sits on Retailer’s Shelf until Sold

In Hands of Consumer

DELL
Customer Places Order Via Phone or Internet

Contract Manufacturers Instantly View Order Information and Ship Component Parts

Dell Assembles Computer from Components Parts As They Arrive and Maintains Customer
Relationship

Computer is Shipped “Direct” to Customer via UPS

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In Hands of Consumer

4. IT as source of sustained competitive advantage

The field of strategic management focuses on
understanding sources of sustained competitive
advantages for firms. A variety of factors have been
shown to have an important impact on the ability of
firms to obtain sustained competitive advantage,
including the relative cost position of a firm, a firm's
ability to differentiate its products and the ability of
firms to cooperate in strategic alliances. Information
technology (IT) has also been mentioned for its
possible role in creating sustained competitive
advantages for firms While the assertion that IT
might be able to create sustained competitive
advantage for firms is provocative, work in this area
is relatively underdeveloped, both empirically and
theoretically Research on IT and competitive
advantage has emphasized describing “how, rather than systematically why” IT can lead to
such an advantage. It is possible to anticipate the conditions under which aspects of a firm's
IT will be sources of competitive disadvantage, when they will be sources of competitive
parity, and when they will be sources of either temporary or sustained competitive
advantage.

4.1 Previous Literature The value of IT (and example)

Traditionally, most research in strategic IT has focused on the ability of IT to add
economic value to a firm by either reducing a firm's costs or differentiating its products or
services. For example, when WalMart adopted its purchase/inventory/distribution system, it
was able to reduce its inventory costs On the other hand, General Electric has been able to
differentiate its service support from its competitors by means of its answer center
technology and Otis Elevator similarly has differentiated its service operations thanks to its
Otis line system. In all these cases, the judicious use of IT either reduced these firms' costs
of operations or increased their revenues by differentiating their products or services, and
therefore was valuable.

There is little doubt that, in a wide variety of circumstances, IT can add value to a
firm. However, IT adding value to a firm by
reducing costs and/or increasing
revenues is not the same as IT being a
source of sustained competitive
advantage for a firm. For example, when WalMart adopted its
purchase/inventory/distribution system, it gained a competitive
advantage over its closest rival, K-Mart. However, K-Mart has not remained idle and is in the
process of developing its own similar system. To the extent that K-Mart is able to implement
its system and apply it like WalMart has, WalMart's system will have been only a source of
temporary, but not sustained competitive advantage.

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Put another way, WalMart's purchase/inventory/distribution system would have been

valuable, but value, per se, is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a sustained
competitive advantage. More generally, a firm is said to have a sustained competitive
advantage when it is implementing a strategy not simultaneously implemented by many
competing firms and where these other firms face significant disadvantages in acquiring the
resources necessary to implement this strategy. A firm has a temporary competitive
advantage when it is implementing a valuable strategy currently pursued by few competing
firms, but where these competing firms do not face significant disadvantages in acquiring the
resources necessary to implement this strategy.

A firm experiences competitive parity when it is implementing a valuable strategy

being simultaneously implemented by several competing firms. A firm is at a competitive
disadvantage when it is implementing a strategy that is not valuable, i.e., a strategy that
does not reduce its costs or increase its revenues.

4.2 The create-capture-keep paradigm

Several authors have gone beyond examining the value of IT in reducing a firm's
costs and/or increasing its revenues to suggest ways that IT can be a source of sustained
competitive advantage. Perhaps the most important of these efforts began with Clemons
(1986) and focuses on the role of IT-based customer switching costs as a source of
sustained competitive advantage for firms selling IT applications. This set of ideas has come
to be known as the "create-capture-keep" paradigm.

4.3 The resource-based perspective

Another approach to understanding the relationship between IT and sustained
competitive advantage has recently emerged. In this approach, the ability to use IT to
leverage the fundamental resource advantages of firms enables IT to be a potential source
of sustained competitive advantage. Fundamental to this paradigm is the resource-based
view of the firm, which is used throughout this paper to explain IT’s link to sustained
competitive advantage.

5. The Resource-Based View of the Firm

T he resource based view of the firm is based on two underlying assertions, as developed
in strategic management theory:

1) That the resources and capabilities possessed by competing firms may differ
(resource heterogeneity); and
2) That these differences may be long lasting (resource immobility).

In this context, the concepts of a firm's resources and capabilities are defined very broadly,
and could certainly include the ability of a firm to conceive, implement, and exploit valuable
IT applications. The conditions of resource heterogeneity and resource immobility are
connected to sustained competitive advantage in the following way.

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5.1 Resource heterogeneity

If a firm possesses a resource or capability that is possessed by numerous other
competing firms, that resource or capability cannot be a source of competitive advantage. In
the context of IT, if several competing firms in an industry all operate the same automated
inventory management system, for example, and then possessing such a system, by itself,
cannot be a source of competitive advantage for any of these firms. Common resources do
not meet the resource heterogeneity requirement, and thus are, at best, sources of
competitive parity.

On the other hand, if a firm possesses a resource or capability that is not currently
possessed by competing firms, the condition of resource heterogeneity is met, and a firm
may obtain at least a temporary competitive advantage. This was the situation described
earlier for WalMart's purchase/inventory/distribution system. As long as WalMart was the
only discount retailer with this system in operation, that system was a source of at least a
temporary competitive advantage for WalMart.

5.2 Resource Immobility

The second resource-based condition, the condition of resource immobility, becomes
important in understanding when a firm's resources and capabilities will be sources of
sustained competitive advantage. A resource is mobile if firms without a resource (or
capability) face no cost disadvantage in developing, acquiring, and using that resource
compared to firms that already possess and use it. In this case, that resource (i.e., mobile
resource) can only be a source of temporary competitive advantage at best.

5.3 Application of Resource based Assertions

On the other hand, if a firm without a resource or capability does face a cost
disadvantage in obtaining, developing, and using it compared to a firm that already
possesses that resource (i.e., resource immobility), then the firm that already possesses that
resource can have a sustained competitive advantage .Thus, if K-Mart was unable to imitate
WalMart's purchase/inventory/distribution system, then WalMart's system would be a source
of sustained competitive advantage. Also, if K-Mart could imitate WalMart's system (i.e., the
hardware and software), but not use it as effectively as WalMart, WalMarts system could still
be a source of sustained competitive advantage.

5.4 Competitive Advantage as a result of Resource based assertions

The requirement that firms must face a cost disadvantage in developing, acquiring,
and using a resource in order for that resource to be a source of sustained competitive
advantage does not imply that the only way to gain such advantages is through cost
leadership strategies. Competitive advantage can be gain through differentiation of products.
More generally, a firm may use its IT resources to help implement a wide range of strategies,
including cost leadership, product differentiation, strategic alliance strategies, diversification
strategies, and vertical integration strategies. If those resources are heterogeneously
distributed across competing firms, and if firms without these resources find it more costly to
develop, acquire, and use them to implement a strategy than firms that have already used
them to implement that strategy, these resources can be a source of sustained competitive
advantage. The importance of resource immobility in creating sustained competitive
advantage has led strategic management researchers to ask another question.

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5.5 Causal ambiguity

A firm can imitate another firm's resources and capabilities at a low cost only if the
imitating firm knows what it is about the successful firm that should be imitated. When there
is causal ambiguity for about the source of competitive advantage, imitation becomes more
costly. There are at least two reasons why causal ambiguity about the sources of a firm's
sustained competitive advantage might exist.

 First, these sources of advantage may be taken for granted and are unspoken, tacit
attributes of a firm .Such organizational attributes have been described as "invisible
assets" and can include an organization's culture, its standard operating procedures,
and its operational routines .Invisible assets may be valuable for a firm, enabling
managers to communicate more effectively, providing guidance to managers in
uncertain and complex situations, and in other ways making business decision
making more efficient.
 Second, a firm's competitive advantage may depend on a large number of small
decisions and actions in a firm, rather than on a few large decisions.

5.6 Social complexity

Finally, resources and capabilities that are socially complex may also be costly to
imitate. Firm attributes such as an organization's culture, its reputation among customers
and suppliers, its trustworthiness, and so forth are generally beyond management's ability to
change rapidly. Rather, these socially complex attributes evolve and change over time. The
delays associated with changing these complex social relationships suggest that firms with
competitive advantages based on these types of resources and capabilities may be immune
from low cost imitation in the short run.

5.7 A resource-based model of competitive advantage

The impact of resource heterogeneity and immobility on competitive advantage can
be organized into the model presented in figure below.

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 As suggested previously, resource value is a necessary but not sufficient condition

for competitive advantage. Firms that possess resources or capabilities that are not
valuable will gain a competitive disadvantage from exploiting these resources. On the
other hand, firms with valuable resources and capabilities may gain at least
competitive parity from exploiting these resources.
 Resources and capabilities possessed by many competing firms cannot be a source
of competitive advantage for any of them, although they will be a source of at least
competitive parity. On the other hand, if a resource or capability is valuable and
heterogeneously distributed across competing firms, then that resource or capability
will be a source of at least a temporary competitive advantage for firms that possess
that resource.
 If firms without a valuable resource are at no disadvantage in acquiring, developing,
and using it compared to firms that already possess this resource, then it will only be
a source of temporary competitive advantage for the firms that originally controlled it.
On the other hand, when a resource or capability is immobile, then firms without this
resource face significant challenges in acquiring, developing, and using it. This
resource or capability may then be a source of sustained competitive advantage for
firms that control it. A resource or capability may be immobile for any of the reasons
mentioned previously, i.e., the role of history, causal ambiguity, and/or social
complexity

5.8 Applying the Resource- Based View to Attributes of IT

Armed with the model presented in figure above, it is now possible to examine the
ability of IT to generate sustained competitive advantages for firms. A review of the IT
literature indicates that four specific attributes of IT have been suggested, which are
described below:

 Access to capital
 Proprietary Technology
 Technical IT skills
 Managerial skills

5.8.1 Access to capital

The capital needed to develop and apply IT-whether in the form of debt, equity, or
from retained earnings-has been suggested as a source of sustainable competitive
advantage for at least some firms. The logic underlying this assertion is straight forward.

 First, IT investments can be very risky, and thus the capital needed to make these
investments can be very costly.
 Second, IT investments can require huge amounts of this risky capital. It may often
be the case that only a few firms competing in a particular product market will have
the financial capability needed to acquire the necessary capital to make certain IT
investments.

Thus, the few firms that are able to acquire the needed capital to make these
investments can gain a sustained competitive advantage from them. Two kinds of
uncertainty can be considered as the major sources of risk in IT investments, and are,

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therefore, determinants of the cost of capital required to make those investments:

technological uncertainty and market uncertainty.

5.8.1.1 Technological Uncertainty

Technological uncertainty reflects the risk that of sustained competitive advantage for
firms. The first of an IT investment may not meet its expected performance targets in a
timely way. Specific sources of technological uncertainty in IT investments include:

1) Failure to obtain the anticipated IT results because of implementation difficulties,

2) Higher than anticipated implementation costs,
3) Longer than anticipated implementation time,
4) Technical performance below what was anticipated at the outset of the investment,
and

Incompatibility of the developed IT with selected hardware and software when they
were first developed airline reservation systems were characterized by high levels of
technological uncertainty. Their development required the solution of a number of
unforeseen problems, which reflected the technological limitations and scarce experience
available at the time.

5.8.1.2 Market Uncertainty

Market uncertainty, on the other hand, reflects risks related to the customer's
acceptance of new IT products or services. Market uncertainty was a major cause of failure
for the Pronto and Zap Mail systems. Even though these systems met their technical
objectives, they were not adopted by customers.

The Pronto system, Chemical Bank and AT&T's joint venture in electronic banking,
did not attract enough customers in six years to break even and had to be abandoned
similarly, insufficient demand was one of the reasons for the failure of Federal Express's Zap
Mail, a system designed to transmit facsimile documents through a nationwide network.

Of course, not all IT investments are large, nor are they all risky. If IT investments
are not large and risky, then it is likely that several firms will have access to the capital
necessary to make them. In this context, access to capital is not likely to be a source of
sustainable competitive advantage.

On the other hand, some IT investments may be both large and very risky. However,
even in this context, access to capital for IT investments, per se, is not likely to be a source
of sustained competitive advantage for firms.

According to above mentioned figure, firm attributes that are not heterogeneously
distributed across firms will only be a source of competitive parity. While the capital used by
these firms to make these IT investments will be risky and large, it will not be any more so to
any one of these firms than it is to the others.

5.8.2 Proprietary technology

Technology that can be kept proprietary has also been suggested as a source of
sustained competitive advantage. Although proprietary technology can be protected through
patents or secrecy, IT applications are difficult to patent Moreover, even if they could be

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patented, there is evidence that patents provide little protection against imitation. Thus,
secrecy is the only alternative for keeping IT proprietary.

Clearly, if a firm possesses valuable proprietary technology that it can keep secret,
then that firm will obtain a sustained competitive advantage. The fact that the technology is
proprietary suggests that it is heterogeneously distributed across competing firms; the fact
that it is secret suggests that it is imperfectly mobile.

However, most research indicates that it is relatively difficult to keep a firm's

proprietary technology secret, and thus, it is unlikely that proprietary technology will be a
source of sustained competitive advantage. This is especially true for IT.

There are wide varieties of factors acts together to reduce the extent to which
proprietary IT can be kept secret. Workforce mobility, reverse engineering, and formal and
informal technical communication all act to reduce the secrecy surrounding proprietary
technology.

5.8.3 Technical IT skills

A third possible source of sustained competitive advantage from IT may be a firm's
technical IT skills. Technical skills refer to the know-how needed to build IT applications
using the available technology and to operate them to make products or provide services.

Examples of such technical skills might include knowledge of programming

languages, experience with operating systems, and understanding of communication
protocols and products. These technical skills enable firms to effectively manage the
technical risks associated with investing in IT, as discussed previously.

While technical skills are essential in the use and application of IT, they are usually
not sources of sustained competitive advantage. Using the language, these skills are

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valuable, but they are usually not heterogeneously distributed across firms. Moreover, even
when they are heterogeneously distributed across firms, they are typically highly mobile.

For instance, firms without the required analysis, design, and programming skills
required to make an IT investment can hire technical consultants and contractors.
Specifically, airlines acquired technical expertise for developing their complex airline
reservation systems by hiring programmers from other airlines and by making alliances with
other carriers and hardware vendors.

5.8.4 Managerial IT skills

Technical skills are not the only skills required to build and use IT applications. A
second broad set of skills are managerial skills. In the case of IT, managerial skills include
management's ability to conceive of, develop, and exploit IT applications to support and
enhance other business functions. Examples of important IT management skills include:

1) The ability of IT managers to understand and appreciate the business needs of other
functional managers, suppliers, and customers;
2) The ability to work with these functional managers, suppliers, and customers to
develop appropriate IT applications;
3) The ability to coordinate IT activities in ways that support other functional managers,
suppliers, and customers; and
4) The ability to anticipate the future IT needs of functional managers, suppliers, and
customers.

Managerial IT skills enable firms to manage the market risks associated with

investing in IT. Firms can acquire technical IT skills by hiring programmers and analysts.
They then use their managerial IT skills to help programmers and analysts fit into an
organization’s culture, understand its policies and procedures, and learn to work with other
business functional areas on IT-related projects.

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Managerial skills in many cases are tacit, and may involve hundreds to thousands of
small decisions that cannot be precisely imitated. As long as these skills are part of the
"taken for granted" part of a firm's skill base, they may remain causally ambiguous.

The development and use of many of these managerial skills depends on close
interpersonal relationships between IT managers and those working in the IT function,
between IT managers and managers in other business functions, and between IT managers
and customers. Thus, the development of these skills is often a socially complex process.
Therefore, if managerial IT skills are valuable and heterogeneously distributed across firms,
then they usually will be a source of sustained competitive advantage, since these relation-
ships are developed over time; and they are socially complex and thus not subject to low-
cost imitation.

Of course, while many managerial IT skills are developed over long periods of time and
are causally ambiguous and socially complex, not all such skills have the attributes needed
to be sources of sustained competitive advantage.

WalMart's purchase/inventory/distribution system, which has allowed a reduction in its

cost of sales 2-3 percent below the industry average, is another example of the importance
of managerial IT skills in creating sustained competitive advantage. A competitively
interesting note about this just-in-time system is that it applies very little proprietary
technology and uses very few inimitable IT technical skills. Instead, IT is used to support
constant and direct communication among WalMart's stores, distribution centers, and
suppliers. It is this constant communication and the relationship it builds that has enabled
WalMart to retain its competitive advantage despite the successful efforts of many of
WalMart's competitors to imitate WalMart's hardware and software.

Put differently, while WalMart's technical IT skills have been imitated, its IT management
skills have been shown to be a source of sustained competitive advantage. Part of
WalMart's advantage results from its ability to link its IT function with its stores, its
distribution centers, and even with its suppliers.

This suggests that managerial IT skills are relevant not only in linking different functions
within the same firm, but may also be important in linking different firms in ways that
generate IT-based competitive advantages through strategic alliances. It may also be the
case that managerial IT skills can be used to link a firm with its customers .In all these
cases, if the linkages are valuable, if they are possessed by relatively few competing firms,
and if they are socially complex (and thus imperfectly mobile), they may be sources of
sustained competitive advantage.

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6. Conclusions and Implications

Of the four attributes of IT explained, application of the resource-based logic
summarized in figure above suggests that only IT managerial skills are likely to be a source
of sustained competitive advantage. IT management skills are often heterogeneously
distributed across firms.

Access to capital is also not likely to be a source of sustained competitive advantage,

especially for IT’s that are neither large nor particularly risky. Even when these investments
are large and risky, differential access to capital, per se, is not a source of sustained
competitive advantage. Rather, differential access to capital reflects a firm's differential
technical and managerial IT skills.

Also, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep information technology proprietary,

and thus, proprietary IT is not likely to be a source of sustained competitive advantage.

Finally, while technical IT skills are absolutely essential for a firm to gain even
competitive parity in IT, they are, by themselves, not likely to be a source of sustained
competitive advantage.

This analysis has important implications for both researchers and managers. For
researchers, the resource-based view of the firm suggests that the search for IT-based
sources of sustained competitive advantage must focus less on IT, per se, and more on the
process of organizing and managing IT within a firm. It is the ability of IT managers to work
with each other, with managers in other functional areas in a firm, and with managers in
other firms that is most likely to separate those firms that are able to gain sustained
competitive advantages from their IT and those that are only able to gain competitive parity
from their IT.

These skills, and the relationships upon which they are built, have been called
managerial IT skills. Future research will need to explore, in much more detail, the exact
nature of these managerial IT skills, how they develop and evolve in a firm, and how they
can be used to leverage a firm's technical IT skills to create sustained competitive
advantage.

Moreover, empirical tests of the arguments presented here and other resource-based
arguments about IT attributes will also need to be conducted. This analysis also has
important implications for IT managers.

This analysis suggests that using IT to gain sustained competitive advantage is not
likely to be easy. Indeed, if it was relatively simple for firms to use IT in this way, then IT
would not be imperfectly mobile and therefore not a source of sustained competitive
advantage. The fact that it is often difficult to develop IT managerial skills, that relationships
between the IT function and other business functions are often slow to evolve, and that the
technical orientation of many of those in the IT function can clash with the business
orientation of others in a firm is good for those firms who have been able to develop these IT
managerial skills. This implies that other firms will have a difficult time imitating these skills,
and therefore they can be a source of sustained competitive advantage.

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7. IT and Firm Size

M any changes in the organization of work in the United States since 1975 have been
attributed to the increased capabilities and use of information technology (IT) in
business. However, few studies have attempted to empirically examine these relationships.
Investments in information technology are at least partially responsible for one important
organizational change, the shift of economic activity to smaller firms. We examine this
hypothesis using industry-level data on IT capital and measures of firm size, including
employees and sales per firm. We find broad evidence that investment in IT is significantly
associated with subsequent decreases in the average size of firms. We also find that these
decreases in firm size are most pronounced two to three years after the IT investment is
made.

8. Relationship between IT and Firm Size

To our knowledge, this is the only public domain data on IT investments in the U.S.
economy. It includes fairly accurate hedonic price deflators which take into account quality
improvements of over 20% per year in computing power. In order to understand the changes
more fully, we examined four different measures of firm size: (1) the number of employees
per establishment, (2) the number of employees per firm, (3) the sales per firm, and (4) the
value-added per firm.

Our results show clearly that the deployment of IT is correlated with a decrease in the
number of employees per establishment and per firm in all sectors that we analyzed, and is
associated with a decrease in sales and value added per firm in the manufacturing sector
(the only sector for which data on these measures are avail-able). Taken as a whole, our
results demonstrate empirically the inverse relationship between IT and firm size.

We summarize existing evidence of two significant trends in the last 15 years: (1)
The number of employees in the average business establishment has decreased
substantially, and (2) the real stock of IT has grown enormously.

8.1 Firm Size:

According to several sources, firm size, as measured by the number of employees,
has declined. In addition, we examined two other measures of firm size, sales per firm and
value-added per firm, for manufacturing industries. We did not find any overall declines in
these measures of firm size.

8.2 Information Technology:

Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) confirm the self-evident increase
in the ubiquity of IT. We find that investment in computers has increased steadily and
dramatically since at least 1971. After taking into account the quality improvements reflected
in the BEA price deflator (which allow each dollar to buy more IT), there has been over a
tenfold increase in IT investments between 1971 and 1990. Each of the major business
sectors shows the same accelerating trend toward increased use of IT.

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9. IT and Viability of Firms

A central theoretical question, then, is why the increasing use of IT might change the
relative viability of small and large firms.

We summarize the arguments that have been proposed to answer this question in two basic
categories: (a) labor substitution, and (b) make versus buy.

9.1 Labor Substitution

Perhaps the simplest explanation that has been proposed for why firm size might be
related to IT is that firms can sometimes use IT to produce the same output with fewer
people. By substituting automated processing for human labor, the argument goes; these
firms can increase productivity and reduce costs. Somewhat surprisingly, however, previous
studies have not provided broad support for the hypothesis that IT substituted for labor or
even increased the productivity of labor, at least in the 1975-1985 time period. Furthermore,
in direct studies of the relationship between IT and employment, there is some evidence that
IT may actually increase employment. IT investment resulted in a complementary increase
in the number of clerks and managers employed after a lag of several years. Recently,
Berndt and Morrison (1991), using essentially the same IT data set we are using, found that
IT was on balance a complement, not a substitute for labor, especially white collar labor.
Specifically, it is concluded, rather than being aggregate labor-saving, increases in (IT) tend
to be labor-using.

While the previous work casts some doubt upon the labor substitution hypothesis as
an explanation for decreasing firm size, our study will allow us to examine the hypothesis
from another perspective. If labor substitution due to IT is the primary explanation for
decreasing firm sizes, then we should expect to see a decrease in the number of employees
per firm associated with IT use, but no decrease in the sales per firm. In fact, if this
hypothesis is correct, we might even see an increase in the sales per firm associated with IT
use.

9.2 Make versus Buy

Another possible explanation for why IT might be related to firm size is that IT might
affect the firms' "make" versus "buy" decisions for the components and services needed to
make their primary products.

For instance, when a firm like Ford needs tires for the cars it produces, it has two
choices about how to obtain these tires: It can make them internally, or it can buy them from
an outside tire supplier. Which of these choices is preferable in a given situation depends, in
part, on their respective costs.

We can divide these costs into two categories- production costs and coordination costs.
Production costs refer to the costs of the physical production process itself-tasks like
molding and cutting the rubber for tires.

Coordination costs, on the other hand, refer to the costs of managing the dependencies
between production tasks. For example, coordination tasks include making sure that the
rights things and the right people are in the right places at the right times.

We can further divide coordination costs into two subcategories-internal coordination

costs and external coordination costs.

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When Ford produces its own tires, for instance, the internal coordination costs
include the costs of managers and others who decide when, where, and how to produce the
tires. When Ford buys tires from an outside supplier, the external coordination costs include
(a) the supplier's costs for marketing, sales, and billing and (b) Ford's costs for finding
suppliers, negotiating contracts, and paying bills. In both cases, coordination costs include
information intensive activities such as gathering information, communicating, and making
decisions. Since IT is particularly useful in these kinds of information intensive activities,
several previous theories suggest how IT might affect firm size by reducing these
coordination costs.

9.2.1 Reducing Internal Coordination Costs More than External

If IT reduces the costs of internal coordination more than external coordination, then
we would expect firms to do more things internally. This means we would expect firms to
grow in size. For example, if IT greatly reduced the costs for managers to monitor and
control what their subordinates were doing throughout a large organization, then this might
lead firms to do more things internally. One kind of internal coordination cost simply involves
moving information to the places where decisions are made and then informing others about
the decisions. Another important kind of internal coordination cost arises because the
interests of individual employees are often not the same as those of the firm as a whole.

Research in agency theory has studied extensively how these conflicts of interest
can be managed by approaches such as monitoring employees or providing them with
performance-based pay.

Since these approaches involve information-intensive activities, it seems plausible

that IT might affect their costs. More generally, since many early applications of computers
have focused on internal systems rather than inter-organizational systems, we might expect
that these systems would affect internal coordination costs more than external ones.

9.2.2 Reducing External Coordination Costs More than Internal

If IT reduces the costs of external coordination more than internal coordination, then
we would expect to see firms buy more things externally. In this case, the average size of
firms should decrease. For example, if it is easier and cheaper for a firm to find an external
supplier for new parts than to make them internally, then the firm is more likely to buy the
parts outside and less likely to need as much internal manufacturing capacity.

The factors that lead to high "transaction costs" for external coordination have been
analyzed extensively by research in transaction cost theory. In general, the "opportunistic"
behavior of firms negotiating contracts with each other often leads to costs (such as legal
and accounting expenses) that would not be necessary if the same transactions were
coordinated internally. More generally, by reducing the costs of many of the information
searching and accounting activities that are needed for coordination with external suppliers,
IT can make buying things externally more attractive to firms. A related effect of IT is that it
might reduce market coordination costs by changing the "specificity" of assets themselves.

9.2.3 Reducing Coordination Costs More than Production Costs

The theories reviewed so far allow us to predict either kind of change: if internal
coordination costs decrease most, firms should grow; if external coordination costs decrease

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most, firms should shrink. It is argue that, in general, we should expect both kinds of
coordination costs to decrease relative to production costs. They further argue that this
would still favor buying rather than making. The costs of finding suppliers, negotiating
contracts, and paying bills often make external coordination more expensive than
coordinating the same activities internally would be. However, when external suppliers pool
the demands of multiple customers, they can often realize economies of scale or other
production cost advantages that internal production could not achieve. Thus, in general,
buying rather than making leads to higher coordination costs but lower production costs.

Now, how will IT affect these costs? In the cases where IT can directly improve the
production process (e.g., via computerized typesetting or factory robots), we should expect
IT to reduce production costs. However, these effects will be very specific to particular
production processes and, thus, to particular industries.

In almost all industries, however, IT should be able to reduce the costs of the
information intensive activities involved in coordination. In general, if IT reduces both internal
and external coordination costs more than it reduces production costs, then it will decrease
the importance of the dimension on which buying has a disadvantage? Thus, it should
increase the number of situations in which buying is more attractive than making.

10. Summary
The theoretical literature suggests that IT will reduce the costs of coordination both within
firms and between firms. We cannot know, a priori, however, which effect predominates and
whether a resulting shift is of an economically significant magnitude. Furthermore, these
theoretical arguments do not allow us to determine whether the decrease in average firm
size noted above is related either positively or negatively to the increasing use of IT.
Fortunately, the question of how IT affects firm size is subject to empirical investigation, and
as noted above, the different theories make different predictions about what changes we
should see. In the remainder of this paper, we use econometric techniques to analyze the
relationship in the U.S. economy as a whole between IT investments and firm size. We also
interpret these results in light of the theories just described.

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11. Gaining Competitive Advantage

T he principal role that information systems have performed in the past has been one of
operational and management support. But recently companies have begun using
information systems strategically to reap significant competitive advantage.

11.1 A few examples

American Hospital Supply, being the first to install online order entry terminals in
hospitals, now dominates the medical supply business.

Merrill Lynch, with its Cash Management Account, dependent on database and laser
printing technology, preempted the market with its innovative product.

American and United Airlines, through their computerized reservation systems, Sabre
and Apollo established an edge that other air carriers have found impossible to overcome.

The significance of these computer-based products and services lies neither in their
technological sophistication nor in the format of the reports they produce. Rather, it is found
by examining the role they play in their firm's quest for competitive advantage.

The cases just mentioned are instances of strategic information systems (SIS) -
information systems used to support or shape an organization's competitive strategy, its plan
for gaining and/or maintaining advantage.

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11.2 Using the Information technology:

1) American Hospital Supply's system yielded advantage by locking-in its customers.
2) Sabre and Apollo gave priority listings to the two carriers when agents checked their
screens for flights. The advantage has been so great that competitors have appealed
to the government and the courts for relief. In addition, the systems have become
vehicles for diversification and growth, propelling their developers into entirely new
lines of business such as telemarketing.
3) Merrill Lynch's Cash Management Account, an innovative product made possible by
an SIS alliance with the enterprising Banc One of Columbus, Ohio (that processes
CMA debit card and check transactions), enabled the brokerage house to sign up
over one million customers (10 times its nearest rival) and reap more that $60 million
annually in fees.

Although the use of information systems may not always lead to industry domination,
it can serve as an important weapon in a firm's strategic arsenal. Up to now, companies
have uncovered SIS in an ad hoc fashion, without the benefit of a planning methodology
designed specifically for the purpose. But as the pace of competition accelerates in the 80's,
competitive leaders must develop a more systematic approach for identifying SIS
opportunities.

11.3 Strategic Information System as Competitive Advantage

From the Conventional to the Strategic Perspective The dominant view on
information systems planning has for decades focused exclusively on the internal functions
of the business. But this conventional perspective, powerful as it is for some purposes,
cannot account for the SIS examples cited above in which information technology was used
to gain competitive advantage.

To understand why the conventional perspective is unsuited for identifying SIS, we

need first to examine its theoretical underpinnings. In the conventional view, the targets of
information system applications are the organization's planning and control processes.
These processes, include: strategic planning (processes related to the organization's
objectives, resource allocation policies, etc.); management control (processes related to

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assuring that strategic objectives are attained); and operational control (processes related to
assuring that tasks are executed efficiently).

11.4 Strategic thrusts as major competitive moves

Strategic thrusts are major competitive moves (offensive or defensive) made
by the firm. It is our contention that the multitude of such moves reduce to five basic
thrusts:

11.4.1 Differentiation - Achieve advantage by distinguishing your company's

products and services from competitors, or by reducing the differentiation advantage
of rivals.

11.4.2 Cost - Achieve advantage by reducing your firm's costs, supplier's costs, or
customer's costs, or by raising the costs of your competitors.

11.4.3 Innovation - Achieve advantage by introducing a product or process change

that results in a fundamental transformation in the way business is conducted in the
industry.

11.4.4 Growth - Achieve advantage by volume or geographical expansion, backward

or forward integration, product-line or entry diversification.

11.4.5 Alliance - Achieve advantage by forging marketing agreements, forming joint

ventures, or making acquisitions related to the thrusts of differentiation, cost,
innovation, or growth.

Information technology can be used to support or shape the firm's competitive

strategy by supporting or shaping strategic thrusts. Strategic thrusts, therefore,
constitute the mechanisms for connecting business strategy and information
technology. These thrusts strike at three classes of strategic targets:

1) Supplier targets - Organizations providing what the firm needs to make its
product, for example, those providing materials, capital, labor, services, and
the like.
2) Customer targets - End users as well as organizations (e.g., middlemen,
physical distributors, financial institutions, etc.) purchasing the firm's product
for its own use or for sale to end users.
3) Competitor targets - Organizations selling (or potentially selling) products
judged by customers to be the same as, similar to, or substitutable for the
firm's products.

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12. References

 www.pulibrary.edu.pk
 www.jstor.org/stable/3088167
 www.jstor.org/stable/249630
 www.jstor.org/stable/2632942
 www.jstor.org
 www.jstor.org/stable/249229
 www.dogpile.com
 www.answer.com
 http://scholar.google.com
 www.cashflows.com
 www.directscience.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
 www.oppapers.com/topics/effect/technology/organization
 http://images.google.com.pk

End Notes

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i
^ Kohn, Alfie (1986). No Contest – The Case Against Competition. Boston New York
London: Houghton Mifflin Co.. ISBN 0-395-63125-4.

Mc Farlan et al(1983)
Porter and Millar (1985)

Das et al. (1991)

Henderson and Venkatramen (1999)

see Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty

see « What is the Internet (and What Makes it Work) », by Robert E. Kahn and
Vint Cerf, Internet
Policy Institute, December 1999.

See, e.g., « Defining and measuring Electronic Commerce, a background paper », OECD, Paris, April
2000.

Mc Farlan et al(1983)
ii
Porter and Millar (1985)
iii
Das et al. (1991)
iv
Henderson and Venkatramen (1999)